I can’t believe that this is the last five song Friday of April; 2009 is FLYING by!! Well, it is nice and warm outside, so I won’t keep you kids inside too long… let’s get right to it!
Jars of Clay – Two Hands
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_424_jarsofclay-twohands.mp3]
I have been a fan of Jars of Clay for many, many years. I was a bigger fan when I was in college, but I have always loved their music, and still, I definitely count them amongst my favorite artists. Well, I saw that they had a new CD coming out this week, and naturally, I had to check it out. After my first listen, I was glad to discover quite a fantastic album throughout. In my opinion, this is definitely one of their strongest records, and it shows a real growth as a band. Their sound as matured over the years, and they consistently put out great music. This is the first single from their new record, The Long Fall Back To Earth, which I highly recommend.
Noisettes – Never Forget You
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_424_noisettes-neverforgetyou.mp3]
The second of 3 albums I have been paying attention to that came out this week, was Wild Young Hearts by the Noisettes. I first mentioned them a few weeks ago when I featured their fantastic first single, Don’t Upset The Rhythm. Well, after giving the whole album a listen, I was pleased to find that they too had produced a pretty great album. This is one of my favorite songs from the record, which bears similarity to the vocal styling of Duffy and Amy Winehouse, and has a sock hop/TV soundtrack flair to the arrangement. The arrangement really makes me think of Laverne and Shirley for some reason…
Chester French – C’mon (On My Own)
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_424_chesterfrench-cmon.mp3]
The third album released this week that was definitely on my radar was the debut album of Chester French. I have also talked about them previously, when I featured their fantastic song She Loves Everybody. My interest in Chester French shot sky high after seeing them open for Lady GaGa a few weeks ago, because they were excellent live. I liked all of the songs that I heard at the show, and was glad to get my hands on the album so that I could hear them again. This is probably my favorite song from the album, which is kind of good, but unfortunately overall, only has a handful of songs that really speak to me. Also note that he says motherfucker pretty loudly during one of the choruses.
Lady Sovereign – So Human
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_424_ladysovereign-sohuman.mp3]
Okay, I may have mentioned it before, but I am a huge sucker for a well used sample. This is a great example of that technique; I LOVE the way she integrates the Cure’s Close to Me, and uses it to soften up her previously “uber-tough” persona. I love her accent, and how “rough” she is (ha! rough and tough!), and I am glad that she is still making her mark on hip hop. This is a fun little track that I have been enjoying since I saw the video a couple of weeks ago, and I have been meaning to feature it ever since.
Pussycat Dolls – Magic
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_424_pcd-magic.mp3]
Finally this week, I am posting a song that I randomly heard playing in the background of a TV show; that happens to be from PCD’s Doll Domination album. I heard it, and I really liked the beat, and I did a lot of searching on the internet to find out who it was, and what song it was; only to find that I already had it on my hard drive!! No, I don’t have an iPhone, or I probably would have just used Shazam, but thankfully, my persistence and my good research skills led me to this fun little track. I have to say, PCD really keeps throwing me surprises; I’m glad that I gave in and started enjoying this girl group!
I tried to keep it brief so you kids can get out there and enjoy this fine weather. As always, please let me know what you are listening to, and let me know what you think of the five tracks that I brought you this week. Have a great evening!
I feel like I have been singing Adele’s praises for ages now, but honestly, I don’t think that I could ever sing them enough. After seeing her last week, I have been flying high on this amazing Brit’s debut album, 19, and I wanted to post one of my absolute favorite songs of hers. This song is full of emotion, drama, feeling, and power. I love how she makes her voice crack, which really represents the broken heart that she is singing about. She performed this song flawlessly in concert, and if you still haven’t gotten on the Adele bandwagon by now, this is just me shaking you, again, and telling you to get with the program. Adele is amazing!
I’m not normally a big fan of country, and while I used to only listen to it back in the day, I attribute that to being mostly a product of my environment *cough*hick from North Carolina*cough*. I remember when Carrie won American Idol, and I was really excited, because she was one of the first ones that had pipes as amazing as Kelly Clarkson’s, and even though she was country, I just knew that her amazing show stopping version of Alone by Heart would grace her debut. Well, it didn’t, and instead of making me happy, she went full tilt country, which, while it does serve her voice beautifully, it just didn’t “do it” for me (also songs like Jesus Take the Wheel just make me want to roll my eyes… no offense). Now, let’s cut to last week when she appeared on the Idol stage again to sing this Randy Travis remake; I’m not going to lie, I fucking wept. This song is beautiful, and her voice gave me chills all over. Country or not, this girl can SING, and she sings this beautiful song amazingly; both live, and on her Carnival Ride CD. Note: I didn’t post the version she re-released with Randy Travis (also last week), mostly because Randy is just so outshone that I felt a little bad for him. I LOVE this song, and I am glad that Carrie chose to cover it.
This is another fantastic discovery that I can thank BBC Radio One for; they have been playing this song for a couple of weeks now, and I have found myself liking it more and more with each listen. The neo-soul guitar strumming, and popping beats really compliment the lead singer’s sweet voice (which has a resemblance to Eartha Kitt; without the kitty growls, of course). This infectious track has the upbeat sensibilities of the Ting Tings, and while it is a bit repetitive lyrically, it isn’t enough to turn me off. I can’t wait to see what the new Noisettes album will be like; if it is anything like this fantastic track, I am sure that I will love it.
I may make a few enemies with this one, but hear me out; YES, the original version is awesome, amazing, and several other praise-worthy words. It won an Oscar. See? I agree. However, this version, which harnesses the amazing vocals of Miss Pussycat Doll herself, Nicole Scherzinger, is just too perfect to ignore. A.R. Rahman’s Oscar-winning song gets the English treatment, and instead of being a “replacement” for the original Indian hit, I think that this version will just get more people interested in the original. I personally LOVE this song, and love that I can sing along with Nicole, because, call me crazy, but I like listening to music that has lyrics that I can actually understand; catch me catch me catch me!!! So again, the original – fantastic; and so is this version, which I cannot stop playing and dancing around to!!
To end today, we are going full tilt gay. We have covered a lot of ground today(soul, country, bollywood, now disco!!!), but this is disco bananas, and it is fantastic. Alcazar are a Swedish dance group that have been around for a decade, and recently, they released a massive double disc album that is chock full of dance floor fillers. This is my favorite song from that album, which is appropriately called Disco Defenders; because if anyone is going to successful in advocating for the fabulousness of disco, it’s definitely these guys. This song is upbeat, happy, and throw-your-hands-in-the-air dancetastic. Songs like this make me want to dance all night long, and HOW can that be anything but great?! Sometimes, it’s nice to just have a little fun, isn’t it? Well, that’s definitely something you can do by listening to Alcazar!